View Message

Billie
I just read "Lady Sings the Blues", so I thought I would ask what you thought about Billie as a female name.Like? Love? Hate? Indifferent to?Other namesakes are Billie Dove and Billie Burke. Seems to have been more popular in the 20's/30's. Hmm. Your ideas are intriguing to me, and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
Archived Thread - replies disabled
vote up2

Replies

Don't like it for a girl
vote up1
Dislike, sounds too masculine on its own. Prefer Billie Jean (is not my lover). Famous namesake is Billie Eilish.
vote up2
I hate it. Regardless of gender I hate the nickname or name Billy/Billie. It sounds childish and ugly.
vote up1
I love Billie. I think it's cute. I absolutely could not well my husband on it, though I tried hard. May use it on a dog now. I think it's a little bit older than most unisex feel names now, even though I wouldn't call it classic. That said, I do prefer it as a nickname for Willemina/Wilhelmina. It's one I can see someone absolutely hating and like it should have alternatives.
vote up1
"Aunt B" was my step-grandma's older sister, who died a couple years ago. For a long time I'd only heard my step-siblings refer to her as "Aunt B," and I'd actually misheard it as "Aunt Bea" and thought her name was Beatrice. Surprise, surprise, one day Grandma was looking through old photos with her kids, and I got to see Aunt B's name written out: Billie Rose. She would've been born in the 30s, so it tracks with the popularity of the name.Honestly, I quite like Billie for a girl - either as its own name, or a nickname for Willow or Wilhelmina. I think nowadays the name is most often associated with Billie Eilish, and it's likely because of her that the name cracked the Top 1000 in the US for the first time in over 20 years.It's funny, though: I've actually always disliked Billy for a boy, full name or nickname for William. (Don't like Bill, either.) And I disliked it for a boy long before I was even truly aware of Billie as a feminine name. Maybe subconsciously I always thought of the sound as feminine.
vote up1
Its cute and sounds unisex to me.
vote up1